Writing

Tennessee Williams

Born March 26, 1911 · Columbus, Mississippi, USA

Died February 24, 1983 · aged 71

Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. At age 33, after years of obscurity, Williams suddenly became famous with the success of The Glass Men…

Known For

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire · 1951

A Streetcar Named Desire

MovieDramaThriller

A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof · 1958

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

The Night of the Iguana

The Night of the Iguana · 1964

The Night of the Iguana

MovieDramaRomance

A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone · 1961

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

MovieDramaRomance

An aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.

Suddenly, Last Summer

Suddenly, Last Summer · 1959

Suddenly, Last Summer

MovieThrillerDrama

The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

Summer and Smoke

Summer and Smoke · 1961

Summer and Smoke

MovieDramaRomance

In a small Mississippi town in 1916, an eccentric spinster battles her romantic yearnings for the randy boy next door.

Baby Doll

Baby Doll · 1956

Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.

Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth · 1962

Sweet Bird of Youth

MovieDramaRomance

Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.

Filmography

Sort

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire · 1951

A Streetcar Named Desire

MovieDramaThriller

A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

Theatre Play

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof · 1958

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Theatre Play

The Night of the Iguana

The Night of the Iguana · 1964

The Night of the Iguana

MovieDramaRomance

A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.

Theatre Play

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone · 1961

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

MovieDramaRomance

An aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.

Novel

Suddenly, Last Summer

Suddenly, Last Summer · 1959

Suddenly, Last Summer

MovieThrillerDrama

The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

Theatre Play

Summer and Smoke

Summer and Smoke · 1961

Summer and Smoke

MovieDramaRomance

In a small Mississippi town in 1916, an eccentric spinster battles her romantic yearnings for the randy boy next door.

Theatre Play

Baby Doll

Baby Doll · 1956

Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.

Screenplay

Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth · 1962

Sweet Bird of Youth

MovieDramaRomance

Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.

Theatre Play

This Property Is Condemned

This Property Is Condemned · 1966

This Property Is Condemned

MovieDramaRomance

Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr.

Theatre Play

Senso

MovieRomanceDrama

A troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.

Dialogue

Boom!

MovieDramaThriller

Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.

Theatre Play

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond · 2008

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

MovieDramaRomance

Fisher Willow is the disliked Memphis débutante daughter of a plantation owner with a distaste for narrow-minded people and a penchant for shocking and insulting those around her. After returning from studies overseas, Fisher falls in love with Jimmy, the down-and-out son of an alcoholic father and an insane mother who works at a store on her family's plantation.

Writer

The Fugitive Kind

The Fugitive Kind · 1960

The Fugitive Kind

MovieRomanceDrama

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.

Screenplay

The Drift

The Drift · 1989

An adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ novel “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone“. The film follows the story of a woman who, after her husband’s death, becomes entangled in a decadent and sordid affair in Rome.

Novel

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone · 2003

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

MovieDramaRomance

An aging actress' husband dies of a heart attack en route to Rome, where they'd planned to holiday. There, she rents an apartment and, through the Contessa, she meets a young man, with whom she begins an affair.

Novel

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie · 1950

The Glass Menagerie

An aging Southern Belle complicates life for her ambitious son and crippled daughter because of her own warped views of what life should be.

Screenplay

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire · 1995

A Streetcar Named Desire

MovieDramaTV Movie

A fading Southern Belle moves in with her sister in New Orleans where her ferocious brother-in-law takes stabs at her sanity.

Writer

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire · 1987

A Streetcar Named Desire

MovieDramaTV Movie

As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski.

Novel

The Rose Tattoo

The Rose Tattoo · 1955

The Rose Tattoo

MovieDramaRomance

A grieving widow embarks on a new romance when she discovers her late husband had been cheating on her.

Screenplay

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie · 1987

The Glass Menagerie

An aging Southern Belle complicates life for her ambitious son and crippled daughter because of her own warped views of what life should be.

Writer

Orpheus Descending

Orpheus Descending · 1990

Orpheus Descending

MovieTV MovieRomance

Val Xavier is a drifter in 1940's Mississippi who brings new life to an Italian immigrant woman trapped in a loveless marriage.

Writer

The Migrants

The Migrants · 1974

MovieDramaTV Movie

A look at the lives of migratory farm workers, focusing on one family.

Story

Period of Adjustment

Period of Adjustment · 1962

Period of Adjustment

MovieComedyDrama

A newlywed couple on their honeymoon visit friends who are having marital problems of their own.

Theatre Play

National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire

National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire · 2014

National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire

As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski.

Theatre Play

American Playhouse

American Playhouse · 1982

American Playhouse

SeriesDramaComedy

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

Theatre Play

BBC Play of the Month

BBC Play of the Month · 1965

BBC Play of the Month

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

Writer

Thirty-Minute Theatre

Thirty-Minute Theatre · 1965

Thirty-Minute Theatre

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Writer

NET Playhouse

NET Playhouse · 1966

SeriesDramaFamily

NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.

Writer

Monday's Theater

Monday's Theater · 1972

Monday's Theater

SeriesDramaComedy

Greek television series

Writer